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Spring blossomed into an early summer. In May the temps soared into the nineties. By June we’d gone exactly twenty-seven days without rain. The heat wave was relentless as school let out for the summer, releasing students into a time of beaches, parties, and romances.
I’d just slipped into my teeny weeny black bikini when there was a knock at my door. Lena and I were hitting the beach along with Drake and a couple of other people from school. I took one last look in the mirror.
Mom and Gary had left last night for a weekend vacation. It’d taken me three weeks to convince them to go on a honeymoon. The only thing they’d agree to was a long weekend—Mom was afraid to leave me for any longer than that. The pregnancy hormones had her overreacting about everything. I had to promise to stay with Lena. Gah! Talk about overprotective. I just hoped this purgatory wouldn’t last well into my thirties as Gary promised. No dating, no wild parties, blah, blah, blah...
I rolled my eyes and stuck out my tongue at my reflection. Since Mom was gone, there was no one to put my hair up. It fell, huge and ridiculous, down my back like a malignant fuzzball.
Another knock echoed through the house. “Coming!” I yelled. Jeesh, Lena was impatient today.
I bounded down the stairs, not bothering to slide on my cover-up. Even with the central air running nonstop, the temperature in the house pushed eighty degrees. I flung the door open and assumed my most glamorous pose for Lena. She thought my bikini was ridiculous; I thought she was a prude. Who went to the beach wearing not only a one piece, but a one piece covered in camouflage? Lena was one of a kind.
I put my hand on my hip when I was greeted by thin air. I craned my neck to the left and then to the right. The yard was empty. What the hell...
If Lena or Drake was playing some kind of trick on me, it wasn’t funny. Fear skittered into my stomach and raised goose bumps on my exposed skin despite the heat. My eyes dropped to the porch. A huge white baker’s box sat on our welcome mat. My name was scrawled across it in hot pink letters. A ribbon was tied around it, creating a handle so someone could pick it up one-handed.
I let out a squeal. My birthday was in two days. Mom and Gary must have sent something. I told them it wasn’t a big deal to miss my birthday since I’d have another one next year. Besides, now I had an excuse to have a wild birthday party. Okay, maybe not too wild. There’d probably only be a handful of people in attendance and we’d likely play Twister or watch all three Lord of the Rings movies.
We are not lame. I swear. And no comments about one-handed Twister. It’s so been done before.
I carted the heavy box inside and plopped it on the counter. Carefully peeling away the ribbon and tape that held it closed, I opened it.
Nestled inside were twelve perfectly frosted hot pink cupcakes. I squealed.
Grinning, I pulled one out and licked the frosting. I groaned with pleasure. It was the perfect mix of cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar. I licked more frosting, wiping my mouth with the back of my arm, leaving a huge pink smudge. I turned to grab a napkin but dropped my cupcake instead. It landed on the floor with a resolute thud, frosting side down. My heart stopped.
“Hey, Princess.” Liam had his hip propped lazily against my counter. His hair was longer than I remembered, falling into his eyes. A slow grin spread across his face like he was enjoying my moment of pure shock.
I gaped at him in a very unattractive way, I’m sure, standing in the kitchen with nothing on but my bikini, with pink frosting smeared all over me. He closed the distance between us and wiped a bit of frosting off my lip. Still watching me, he licked the frosting off his finger. “Cupcake,” he said with a wry smile.
Several emotions bubbled inside of me but the first one to break free was anger. I put my hand on his chest and pushed with all my might. He barely took a step backwards. “Where the hell have you been?” I screamed.
He held up both hands in front of him. “Whoa, Princess, calm yourself.”
“Don’t you ‘whoa Princess’ me!” I invaded his personal space, my hand clenched into a painful fist at my side. “You lost any right to that when you decided to not contact me for months. Months, Liam.” I shoved him again, harder this time. “I thought you were dead!” I pounded my fist on his chest. His eyes widened. “I thought you died! Do you know what that’s like?” My voice broke on “like” and I clamped my teeth on my bottom lip to keep it from quivering. “You can’t just show up here months later and call me ‘Princess’ and expect everything to be fine!” My hand had flattened on his chest. Through his thin t-shirt I could feel his heart beating, the warmth of his skin sinking into my palm. I jerked it away, pissed.
Liam crossed his arms but didn’t step away from me. “So what you’re saying is that you’re not happy to see me?”
“Yes. No. Damn you. Damn you, Liam Jamison.” His arrogance astounded me.
“Ohh,” he whispered, “say my name again. It gets me all hot.”
“Fuck you, Liam!”
“Oh yeah, talk dirty.”
Despite my best effort, my bottom lip quavered. Tears formed in my eyes. The tears brimmed and fell down my cheeks. At my reaction Liam lost all pretenses. “Come on, Princess, don’t cry. I’m sorry...”
I turned away so he wouldn’t see the humiliation on my face—it burned all the way to my scalp. His hands fell on my shoulders. Pride had me pulling away, but Liam held me firm. “I said I was sorry,” he whispered.
“You let me think you were dead.”
A pause.
“But I’m not.”
I turned and gazed into his face. Oh how I missed that face. I’d even missed his lame innuendoes and pick-up lines. I’d missed everything about him. He smiled, but this time it wasn’t cocky or fake. My heart cracked, bursting with emotion.
“Oh thank God.” I threw myself into his arms. He picked me up and spun me on the kitchen tile. His skin on mine turned my insides out. I couldn’t get enough.
“I told Demitri to tell you that I’d come for you.”
“He didn’t,” I said, my voice muffled by Liam’s shirt. Of course Demitri hadn’t told me. I was a jerk to him the last time we were together. I probably deserved all the months of misery for what I’d done to Lena. Regret haunted me.
“Do you know how hard it was for me to stay away this long?” he asked. “I thought about you every day, Gavyn. I wanted to be with you every damn day.”
“Why weren’t you?”
Liam’s expression darkened. “That’s a long story,” he said evasively.
“I’ve got nothing but time.”
Liam’s eyes appraised me. I felt his gaze travel from my frizzy hair down to my hot pink toenails. “If we’re going to do any kind of storytelling, you’re gonna have to put some clothes on. I can’t think of anything with you dressed, or rather undressed, like that.”
“See something you like?” I flirted, turning in a circle. Liam chuckled and caught my wrist, pulling me against him. I laid my head on his chest. “Besides, I’m going to the beach with Lena and Drake. Come with us.” On cue, Lena let herself into the house. She took one look at Liam and me and dropped her beach bag. Sunscreen and two water bottles rolled across the tile floor. My eyes lowered to Lena’s combat boots. The temperature was nearing one hundred degrees and she wore full camo, complete with ass kicking boots. For some reason I thought Liam would approve.
“Um, hey,” I said lamely.
Liam grinned at Lena. “Hey.”
Lena paled and I wondered if she would faint. She was made of stronger stuff, I thought. I cleared my throat, getting a little thrill out of the entire situation. Yes, I was aware of just how hot Liam was. I just didn’t need him to know that I knew that.
“Lena, this is Liam. He’s—” I broke off and met Liam’s eye. What was I supposed to insert here?
“I’m her boyfriend,” Liam said easily. “Nice to meet you.”
Lena’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. I highly anticipated her stuttering. This was gonna be a good one...
“Gavyn, why d-d-didn’t you t-t-t-t-t,” silence, “ever say you had a b-b-b-boyf-f-friend?”
“I’ve been out of town,” Liam said, saving me from having to answer. “I’m back now, though.”
My eyes met his for an instant. I wanted to jump up and down, press my lips to his, and scream—maybe not all at the same time. This was good news. No, this was fantastic news.
“Are we st-st-still g-g-going t-t-t-to the b-b-beach?”
I chuckled. “Of course.”
Lena’s eyes narrowed. “Is that your mot-t-torcycle in the d-d-driveway?”
Liam lifted a shoulder. “Want a ride?” He wiggled his eyebrows at Lena and she paled.
Some things never change.
***
Liam sprawled in the living room floor and I curled myself next to him. My skin was pink and warm from the summer sun. If Liam wasn’t here I’d probably be exhausted. Instead I felt jittery, like he was a constant shot of caffeine poured directly into my veins.
Lena and Drake had left twenty minutes ago. Liam and I both showered off the lake water and sand. I’d slipped into a t-shirt and gym shorts. My hair dripped down my back. Before long it would return to its usual poodle state.
Liam walked his fingers down my back. “Today was kind of perfect,” he admitted.
“Mmm.”
“I suppose you want me to answer all your questions, now.”
“Mm-hmm.” I wasn’t so enchanted that I’d forgotten, though he was right. Nothing could’ve made this day any better.
Liam sighed and propped himself up on his elbow. “Where should I start?”
I opened my eyes. “Maybe the beginning?”
He traced a finger over my collarbone. “We could do something other than talk,” he suggested. I caught his finger.
“As tempting as that is, no. Liam—there’s still so much I don’t understand. Where did you go when you left? How did you get the antibodies to my mom and Gary when I watched you destroy the vials? How did Demitri know how to get me home?”
“How about we take this one question at a time?”
I nodded. “Fine. Where did you go when you left?” I watched his face expectantly while his eyes watched mine.
“I went several places,” he said, closing his eyes. “First I had to track down your dream journal. That wasn’t hard, actually. After Nevin ran off with it he returned to the warehouse. All I had to do was figure out which Nevin had it. Process of elimination and I had it back.”
“Why did you need it?”
Liam pressed his fingers to my lips. “After that I had to sneak into the lab to create the antibodies. When I’d done that, I left to find your mom and Gary. Fortunately Gary was in on the whole thing, so it wasn’t hard to convince them to take the antibodies.”
“I can’t believe he knew about all this,” I muttered.
Liam chuckled. “It’s a small universe, huh?”
I rolled my eyes. “You have no idea.” I thought about my world’s Dr. Jamison and Liam. I’d gone to Liam’s funeral. It wasn’t easy. In fact, since meeting Liam in my bedroom that first day, just about nothing concerning him was easy.
“The hardest part of dealing with Gary and your mom was getting them to let me leave again. Gary wanted to come with me, but I had to insist he stay. In fact, they’re not going to be too happy with me when they come back from vacation.”
“Why?”
He shook his head; his blond locks fell into his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. After I left here I went back to the warehouse. The Pershings seemed to forget that I’d grown up there. I knew every secret hiding place; I knew every flaw. I met up with Demitri and got him the antidote for you as well as the antibodies.” He took a shallow breath and blew it out. “I didn’t know if it would work. I wasn’t familiar with the Pershings’ specific brand of mind control drug.” His gaze lingered on my face and I felt it warm. “I don’t know what I’d do if it hadn’t. It could’ve hurt you...” He trailed off.
I smiled reassuringly. Thank God it had worked. If not, I’d probably still be with Gavyn, zombie-like, committing murder at her will. “Good thing your IQ is one-seventy-five or we’d be screwed.”
He grinned. “Our time ran out when you killed Gary. I thought we’d have more. Gary wasn’t ready to move yet, but with him out of the way there was no one to tell Gavyn what to do. She wanted to move now, regardless of strategy. We barely had enough time to get the mind control antidote to a couple of guards and get you out. Once they were out from the Pershings’ influence, they agreed to help us.”
“Who?” I wondered who’d been in on my escape. I knew I’d never see them, but I’d at least be grateful.
Liam narrowed his eyes, remembering. “I think it was something like four Nevins and a couple of Demitris.”
“Nevin?” I raised an eyebrow.
“He’s really a nice guy when he’s not trying to kill you. Swear.”
I laughed. “To tell you the truth, I hope I never see him again.”
“I hope you never see him again, too. The next part you were there for,” he continued. “We broke you out and confronted Gavyn. I only took you with me because she didn’t know about the antibodies. She didn’t know the universe’s contingency plan was broken. As soon as the situation started deteriorating, I had Demitri get you out of there.”
I sat up and Liam intertwined his fingers with mine. “But why Demitri? Why not you? Do you know what it’s been like, thinking you were dead all this time? And it’s not like Demitri hung around. He dropped me off with Mom and Gary and hightailed it out of here.” I’d had time to think about it. I was hurt, even if I deserved it.
“I had Demitri take you for a few reasons. First, I trusted him to get you home safe. I would’ve sent you with Gavyn, but I didn’t think she was strong enough to restrain you if needed, and I figured she would hang around in this dimension too long. Demitri is angry with you, but he’s still loyal. And as for why it wasn’t me—I didn’t know the outcome of the fight with Gavyn. I couldn’t in all good conscience just leave everyone there to fend for themselves, and I needed to know for certain she was dead. It was my battle, not theirs.” He paused and searched my face; his eyes spoke of regret. “I hope you understand.”
I nodded. I did understand...to a point. It didn’t make the months of uncertainty any easier. I was still a little panicked that he would just disappear.
“After the fight, it took a while to get enough antidote to cure everyone that remained. Once Gavyn was dead, they started answering to me. It was disturbing. Gavyn and Demitri helped me get them all sorted out and back to their home worlds. I just hope they are all too freaked out to talk.”
“So Gavyn’s dead, then?”
“Very.”
I swallowed. “I don’t know how I should feel about that.”
Silence stretched between us. Liam played with my fingers. He held up our intertwined hands. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
“What’s that?” I said distractedly.
“Are you right or left-handed?”
I took me a minute to understand his question and when I did I knocked him upside the head with our hands. “Don’t be a jerk,” I said, but I was smiling.
Liam kissed the back of my hand. “Don’t be mad at me. I’ve been saving that for months.”
“What would you do if I said I’m a lefty?”
He snickered.
“There’s still something I don’t get,” I said seriously. “A couple of things, actually. What’s going on with Gavyn and Demitri? Looking back on it, I think he kind of had a thing for me.” I recalled our night of searching the rubble for a painted rock.
Liam shrugged. “That’s man territory. We don’t share secrets.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
“He’s always had a thing for Gavyn. It just took all this happening to make him realize it.”
I processed this information. I was happy for them, then. We all deserved some normalcy. “What about my dream journal? Why was it so important?”
Liam let go of my hand and pushed to his feet. “That one I can actually show you. Be right back.” He disappeared out the front door. I used his absence to smooth back my hair, which was starting to curl madly. There really was no hope for it.
He returned, carrying my dream journal. The pages were more dog-eared than I remembered. Liam folded his legs underneath him and flipped the journal open. He turned the pages until he came to the one he wanted.
“Did you read the entire thing?”
He met my eye for a second before looking away. “Well...”
I groaned. Awesome. I couldn’t remember everything I’d written in there, but some of it was, uh, questionable.
“I stick by my erotica suggestion.”
“Just get to the point.”
He hid a smile. “Remember how you dreamed about my father’s murder?” I nodded. “You dreamed about Gavyn killing him because you’re Opposites, but that wasn’t why I needed the journal. You have nearly every recipe for each concoction my father ever dreamed up.”
“What?” I glanced down at the journal. Those were my words written there. No way I remembered writing rocket science recipes.
“When Gavyn and I were kids, my father always made up these stupid sayings when we were in the lab. When I got older he told me that they were code words for each of the chemicals we worked with. They’re nonsense things, but Gavyn learned them too. She just never knew what they meant. I think she figured it out though, which was why you wrote down all the phrases. She’d spent a lot of time reciting them. She just couldn’t decode them.” Liam pointed to a poem. “That’s the one that saved your life.”
The chipmunk jumped over the fence.
The weeds were really dense.
It took a nut to break his heart.
He put it in his little cart.
There was more to the silly rhyme, but I shut the book. “You have got to be kidding me.” I shook my head. “All this time I thought I was a really, really bad poet.”
Liam laughed. “It’s genius, actually.”
“Like you,” I muttered, closing my eyes.
It was really over. Gavyn was dead; my family was safe. If Liam wasn’t next to me, I probably could’ve convinced myself it was just another one of my crazy dreams. Which were all true, too, by the way. Who knew all the secrets of life were held in our dreams?